Lagos earmarks 300 distressed buildings for demolition

The Lagos State Government has announced that about 300 buildings that are suspected to be distressed have been listed and earmarked for investigation and possible demolition.

According to a report from Punch, this disclosure was made by the General Manager, Lagos State Building Control Agency, Mrs Abiola Kosegbe, while speaking during an event themed ‘Prevention of building collapse: A collective responsibility’ in Ikeja, Lagos.

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Kosegbe said that the statistics showed that the frequency of building collapse has dropped compared to what it was last year. This is as she pointed out that preventing building collapse was everybody’s duty.

She said, “Right now, we have a list of almost 300 suspected buildings. This is based on our own visual inspection.

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“The initial thing we do is visual inspection. If we carry out visual inspection of your property and we believe that it appears distressed, that is the initial thing; it is not a scientific thing. Then, we will mark it and serve you the necessary services and tell you to go and conduct your non-destructive integrity test.

“Some will ignore and some will comply. When you comply and you have gone for your test, the next thing is to engage an engineer to do a complete structural assessment of your property and submit that report to us.

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“If they have carried out their report and have been cleared, they can go on with their building. But on the other aspect, if it fails, we tell you immediately, this property needs to be removed. Then we take all the necessary steps to ensure that nobody files any legal matter against us.”

She added that forfeiture occurs if the owner allows the building to collapse, but there would not be forfeiture in removal if it is done in a timely manner.

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What you should know

Lagos has witnessed various incidents of building collapse with attendant loss of lives and properties. The state has been on an enforcement drive of its physical planning laws against illegal and unapproved buildings.